England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stourmouth All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Stourmouth lies in northeastern Kent roughly 8 miles northeast of the city of Canterbury. Stourmouth sits roughly a mile southeast of the A28 road which links Canterbury with Margate. Stourmouth has twin villages within it, West & East Stourmouth, both are set along a U-shaped curving lane south of the course of the River Great Stour and almost run into each other, whilst East Stourmouth is fractionally the larger, West Stourmouth holds the parish church at its northernmost tip. The two villages sit on slightly higher ground above the flood-plain of the river, that area is largely grazing marsh dominated by cattle, the drier areas were largely arable with a small acreage of hops, today, as can be seen from the Ordnance Survey mapping, there are acres of orchards, especially to the east of East Stourmouth, with apples the primary crop. Stourmouth is drained eastwards by the Great Stour which is diverted southwards, as it nears the coast, to pass into the North Sea through the port of Sandwich. Stourmouth is sited at around 5 metres above sea level with most parish land lower than that height, a few spots further south reach to 25 metres in gentle terrain. Stourmouth was a small parish of just 877 acres which would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. Whilst Stourmouth has a Domesday Book entry it is clearly that of a region rather the specific manor, there is no conceivable way this small farming community ever supported over 60 ploughs and 7 salthouses.

The Church

As already mentioned All Saints' church sits on the northern edge of West Stourmouth at the point where Church Walk footpath, followed by the local Stour Valley Walk local trail, leaves Church Lane. The church is no longer in formal use for worship and is managed by the Churches Conservation Trust. Like many small and isolated rural churches All Saints has fabric dating back to the earliest of times, Pevsner indicates a Saxon origin by pointing out the western wall's pilaster buttress and a blocked double-splay  window at the western end of the northern arcade, the chancel, too, has walling that could be pre-Conquest. The churches stand-out feature is the late 12th century southern arcade which shows capitals similar in style and quality to those of Canterbury Cathedral. The chancel shows evidence of being enlarged and partially rebuilt in the 13th century Early English Gothic period with 2 lancet styled windows on both northern and southern faces. It has also been suggested that the King-post roof of the nave is contemporary with this expansion. The early 14th century saw a southern porch added in the Decorated style whilst the southern arcade was also widened. The later Perpendicular period merely added a few replacement windows. The chancel's eastern wall was rebuilt during the 19th century, presumably part of a Victorian restoration that Pevsner neglects to date. The broad entrance to Church Walk serves also for safe parking, the church is almost entirely invisible from Church Lane because of the thick tree-cover lining the road, once through that border things do open out although the west end remains semi-embedded in trees.